Swāhā aum rhin kling swāhā.
About a month and a quarter after the delivery of a woman, a ceremony called zarmān zarvān is performed, when the woman goes to a neighbouring stream or well to fetch water for the first time after her delivery. Near the stream or well five small heaps of sand are made and daubed with red lead. Next, a lamp fed with ghi is lighted, and seven small betelnuts are offered to the stream or well. A cocoanut is then broken, and a part of it is thrown into the water as an offering. Next, the woman fills a jar with the water of the stream or well and returns home, taking with her six out of the seven betelnuts offered to the stream or well. On her way home she is approached by barren women who request to be favoured with one of the betelnuts, as it is believed that swallowing such a betelnut causes conception.[83]
Some believe that only the smallest of the seven betelnuts has the power of producing this result[84]. Others hold that this betelnut must be swallowed on the threshold of a house.[85]
Eating cocoa-kernel and molasses sitting on the threshold of the house on the fourth day of the monthly period is also believed to be a remedy for the cure of barrenness.
Placing a box containing a kori, (a small silver coin) on a spot where three roads cross one another is also said to favour conception.[86]
In some places, a black earthen pot containing charcoal and grains of adad (Phaseolus mungo) is placed on a spot where two roads cross one another, on a Sunday or Tuesday. On this day the barren woman has to take her meals without salt.[87]
Cutting off a lock of a child’s hair and keeping it in custody is also believed to satisfy the longing of a barren woman for a child. This result can also be obtained by securing a piece of a garment of a suckling child.
Some worship daily a cocoanut and a betelnut consecrated with incantations.[88]
Some take a bath on the third day of their period, and stand on the threshold of the house with their hair sprinkled over with kankotri (red powder). Next, a ghi-fed lamp is offered to the deities, and the devotee prostrates herself before the lamp.[89]
It is also believed that barrenness can be cured by religious vows, by offering alms in propitiation of malignant planets such as Mars, and by reciting the jap or incantation called gopāl santān to please the deity of that name.[90]